The U.S. Department of Agriculture will buy $30 million of tart cherries from domestic farmers this year, according to Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet.)

"The tart cherry industry has gone above and beyond to fight adverse circumstances facing their market, including the unfair dumping of cheap imports from Turkey and other foreign countries," Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet) said in a press release.

The tart cherries will be used in federal food assistance programs like the National School Lunch Program.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed an executive directive she says will help secure equal pay for equal work among state employees.

The directive prohibits state agencies and departments from asking about a potential employee's current or previous salaries until they give the applicant a conditional offer of employment that includes proposed compensation.

Judy Welch is the executive director for the West Michigan branch of Michigan Women Forward. She says this could help women who have historically been paid less.

Jim Carruthers is Traverse City’s new mayor. Carruthers won the seat in yesterday’s election, defeating Ian Winklemann and city commissioner Jeanine Easterday.

Carruthers says he became involved in city issues shortly after moving to Traverse City in 1989.

“I got involved mainly because I don’t own a TV," he says. "And I went down to city commission meetings and sat in the audience and watched and listened and made public comment because I was raised to be involved and care about my community and I was.”

DE-STA-CO manufacturing company has announced it will be closing its Charlevoix facility. DE-STA-CO makes parts for assembly lines. The company will begin laying off workers in early 2016, leaving over 100 people out of work.

Darren Greene, DE-STA-CO’s global marketing director, says the business is expanding and has decided to relocate to Tennessee.

Last night, Ogemaw County Planning Commission tabled Nayef Salha's controversial request to build a camp for kids. County officials still have questions about the plan being proposed. Some members of the community expressed open hostility toward the property owner because he’s Muslim.

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Nayef Salha wants to build a youth camp, but inconsistencies in his proposal and concerns because he's Muslim are holding it up.

It's a tight race as Democrat Gary Peters fights to succeed Carl Levin in the United States Senate. The latest Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV poll shows Peters with a six-point lead over Republican challenger Terri Lynn Land.

It has become clear that Congressman Peters has decided to make climate change one of the central issues of his campaign.

Michigan cannot ban all felons from being caregivers in the state’s Medicaid in-home care program. That’s according to state officials who outlined an upcoming background check system on Monday.

People convicted of patient abuse or neglect, health care fraud, or drug-related crimes will be barred from working with in-home Medicaid patients. But state officials say federal law prevents them from excluding people based on crimes that are not related to in-home care.

There's all sorts of political news coming out of Lansing and Detroit this week, from the political fate of a long-time Michigan congressman, to a political move by a top Republican lawmaker to derail a ballot proposal boosting Michigan's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. And of course, there is news on that perennial Michigan topic of fixing our potholed, crumbling roads.

There's so much political news that we decided to bring in Michigan Radio's "It's Just Politics" team of Rick Pluta and Zoe Clark to sort it all out for us.

Those with political aspirations in Michigan may have to disclose felony convictions that happened within the past 10 years. State Rep. Klint Kesto (R-Commerce Township) has introduced legislation that would add a checkbox to candidate forms.

The Republican lawmaker says the bill would not prevent felons from running.

Voters in three more Michigan cities approved ballot questions Tuesday decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana. Ballot proposals in Lansing, Jackson and Ferndale each passed with more than 60 percent of the vote.

“This is an historic night….a landslide by all considerations,” says Jeff Hank, who headed Lansing’s pro-marijuana campaign. “It sends a message not only to our local politicians, but politicians at the state level that it’s time to do something.”

Former Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan is the new mayor-elect of Detroit. Duggan defeated Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon with about 55 percent of the vote.

Duggan coasted to victory despite being a Detroit resident for just over a year, and getting tossed off the primary ballot. He is stepping to the forefront after decades spent behind the scenes in Detroit politics.

Duggan says he’ll spend these next transition weeks building relationships with key players: emergency manager Kevyn Orr and the Detroit City Council.